Smoke & Mirrors- Hiatus- SEE PROFILE
by CrimsonGecko
Summary: When the daughter of the Nine Tails, is kicked out of her shrine after the death of the only family she knows, she goes in search of a distant relative to aid her life's quest, unfortunately for her this relative isn't what she expected. However after meeting Satan's son and the King of Earth, where do her loyalties lie?
1. Chapter 1 - Family

Smoke and mirrors

 **I DO NOT OWN BLUE EXORCIST/AO NO EXORCIST OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS, I DO OWN MY OC.**

This story follows the manga but contains some elements of the anime, contains swearing, gore and headcannons.

After finally becoming up to date, we are more aware of fox demon lore, and hopefully have created a more realistic OC. Please do understand that a somewhat large amount is headcannons and educated guesses as the lore is limited.

 **It would really help me out by reviewing the starting chapter and letting us know what you think of the rewrite.**

 **Thanks for reading, enjoy!**

* * *

The summer air was humid and heavy, while the crescent moon hung in the starry sky like the Cheshire's wicked grin, a small run down shack in the middle of the forest was filled with hushed whispers.

" _a girl, how.. inconvenient_ " the father commented,

"a girl.." the mother trailed off worriedly, "my already tainted blood combined with yours.. what is she?" The man shook his head gently and took the child from the woman's arms and held it gently in his own,

" _my child_ " he stated flatly, " _the kin of the great nine-tailed fox_ ".

Suddenly the woman broke down in tears, "I can't do it, my family will disown me if they knew what I did",

The demon stood up and glared down at her coldly with his golden slitted eyes, " _I never intended to let you raise her, she needs to be around her own kind_ " he remarked coldly. " _your family's history with demon interbreeding won't be enough, she has more demon blood than anyone in your family has had for centuries_ ".

"but she is my child" she wept, "my only one, this deal only benefits you!",

" _of course it does foolish women,_ s _he was created for a purpose to relive me from my capture and provide a future vessel, not to be doted over and treated as a human child_ " he growled, " _you knew the terms of our agreement, I gave you the wealth you desired in exchange_ " the fox commented bitterly. " _Take her to east forest...there is a old Inari shrine containing White foxes, the shrine maiden along with the foxes will care for her_ ", he instructed placing the child back in the woman's arms, before walking to the door and prying the barricades off it.

the woman let out a yelp which caused the baby to awake, however it remained eerily silent, she carefully placed the baby down and crawled from her bed of rags. "what are you doing!?" she asked worriedly,

" _we have stayed here too long, they would be closing in on us, I must leave and change_ _vessels_ " the fox stated, " _do as instructed or I will find you_ " he threatened.

"please let me keep her, I will do anything" she whispered pulling the child into her arms,

" _the deals I make are to benefit me, I don't gain anything letting you keep her_ " he stated coldly. " _do as your told, take her to the forest, when she is of age she will come and search for me_ " the demon explained,

"take the money back, just let me keep her" the mother sniffed wrapping her arms around child tightly.

" _it's too late, she is already born, therefore the contract is complete_ " he replied sternly, " _they are coming_ " he muttered before sliding through the gap in the door and shutting it behind him. The woman tried to open the door but knew he had sealed it until he was far enough away, she collapsed on the floor into a sobbing heap and stayed there until the door became loose.

XxX

Several hours later she stood up, still numb from the pain, "this is my fault" she cursed gazing down at the child, "if I wasn't so greedy..."" she muttered before picking the child up. It was a days walk to the forest and her body ached from the birth, but she knew the consequences for disobeying the demon.

When she did finally arrive at the forest she was indeed met with the temple the nine-tails promised, looking around she saw the statues of the various foxes, all of which looked down at the approaching guests, something she found rather appropriate. Placing a soft delicate kiss on the child's forehead and a note by her side, she laid her at the foot of the offering box before ringing the bell loudly, its unusual clattering alerting the priestess inside.

Quickly and silently the woman dragged her tired sore feet into the distance, watching as the priestess walked out and quickly picked up the child, attempting to comfort its crying and screaming. After the noise had subsided the child's mother watched on patiently as the Priestess unfolded the note, containing her name, and a brief but vague description of her situation. Her mother satisfied with her daughter's new mother, quickly hobbled away, beginning her new much more wealthy life.

XxX

The child, now much older kneeled before the table in front of her, her long silky lavender hair brushing her shoulders and sharp golden eyes locked on her clasped hands. Eyes still red from tears and throat sore from crying, the funeral had brought up difficult questions from her past. "She did that?" the woman asked letting out a shuttering exhale, "she just left me there?"

The white fox hovering above her had a wide toothy grin, " _indeed Akari, without a second glace_ ",

" _did not even check to see if anyone was home_ " another chimed in cheerily, " _she thought you a burden most likely_ " it lied.

Scoffing she shook the thoughts of her mother aside, believing these words true she felt no connection to her biological mother, "it does not matter, she has no meaning to me" she remarked coldly. "but what of my father?"

" _ah the great nine tails!_ " a fox sighed in awe, " _sadly he was resealed shortly after your birth, the life taking stone I recall_ "

" _yes, it is because of him we took care of you, luckily Moko took primary care of you, we wouldn't have_ " it explained shortly, causing Akari felt her face redden and she lowered her head in embarrassment.

An awkward silence filled the atmosphere, and the foxes's grins faded at seeing the girls cheeks flush, Moko had always scolded them for teasing her so much, but now they had to stop themselves. A fox by the name of Jun frowned and collected a box from the top shelf of the cabinet, before dropping in onto the girl's lap, " _the only possession of your father we have, take it_ " he commanded dryly, trying to mask the kind gesture.

"Thank you Jun, but.. sounds as if your trying to be rid of me" she huffed,

before he could respond Akio, a rather blunt fox, replied, " _Moko is dead, it has been several days and the mourning period is over. We are unable to care for you and your far past leaving age, as far as we are concerned our debt to your father is repaid_ " he stated simply.

"you are making me leave?" Akari replied her mouth hanging open in shock, "where will I go? you said the world was not tolerant of our kind" she complained fiddling with her kimono sleeves anxiously,

" _Mike and Uke are contracted to a Kamiki_ " he remarked slyly, " _your bloodline...well the other half of it anyway_ ".

"family... will she take me in? where is she? Could she help me unseal my father?" the woman asked suspiciously,

" _luckily for you she is in the farthest section of True Cross forestry, somewhat... unimpaired by Mephisto Pheles's barriers_ " the white fox explained. " _If she will take you in and help you, that remains to be seen_ ".

Akari sighed deeply and avoided all the foxes either pity filled or judgmental looks, "I know I was most likely just a burden to all of you, and that you felt you owed something to my father, but I want to thank you and Moko for looking after me. And... i'm going to unseal him from the stone and bring him back" she concluded throwing a bag over her shoulder.

Several of the foxes exchanged amused looks at her ambition, but nodded in agreement regardless. As she left the temple many offered the opportunity for her to visit, she of course knew they didn't mean it and would most likely not care whether she returned or not. Looking around the old temple that had been her home for many years, she waved goodbye to the white foxes and left their care, hoping to finally find her biological family.

XxX

The group of young exorcists had been trudging through the thick forest for several hours before reaching a large clearing, "alright we'll set up camp here" Yukio announced, causing the other students to sigh in relief and drop their heavy bags onto the ground. "don't relax too much, during the day the forest may appear calm, but during the night it is a nest for lower level demons. We need to start setting up camp before dusk" he instructed firmly, "the boys will be setting up the tents with me while the girls will be preparing the protection circle and dinner with Shura".

Too tired to protest, the group let out a collective sigh and set off to complete their tasks reluctantly and tiredly. However after a mere half hour the boys had a majority of the tents built while the girls were nearing the completion of the circle. Sheimi looked up from the chalk circle and stared at the boys setting up the tent with interest, "looks fun.." she mentioned casually,

"fun? it looks hot and tiring" Izumo snorted, "and shouldn't you be helping?" she muttered dryly, glaring at Shura relaxing in a tree nearby.

"hm? nah, your almost finished anyway" the woman replied lazily before jumping down from the tree, "when your done come start dinner" she called before walking off.

"of course we do all the work" Izumo complained, Sheimi opened her mouth to offer reassuring words but quickly snapped it close once Izumo set her glare on the blonde, "are you even helping?" she accused.

"oh, y-yes right! sorry" Sheimi stammered quickly picking up the chalk once again, 'I wonder why she's so upset' she wondered glancing at the girl, 'something's on her mind'.

XxX

the group sat around the campfire, idle chatter was shared between them as they ate. Rin looked around the campsite with pride, "see Yukio? We got everything done and had time for dinner!" He beamed.

"Hmm barely" the younger brother replied observing the setting sun, "anyway, that concludes dinner, now I'll start going through the training content",

"In other words, a test of courage!" Shura sung drunkingly.

"Stay on task Shura!" Yukio barked irratibly, "this is serious"

"Oh yeah yeah" she waved her hand dismissively before opening another beer.

Scowling at the woman Yukio calmly explained the course, "to begin everyone must leave this base and scatter in different directions, somewhere in this forest is a lantern you must light and return to camp with. There are only three lanterns that are roughly five hundred meters from this point.."

"wait... that means there are only three spots!" Izumo protested,

"yep!" Shura sung, "only the best will get in!"

Once again the teacher shot a glare at the woman frustrated by her inability to control herself, "moving on, now i'll go through the bag", he explained emptying the contents of the bag.

XxX

Unknown to the group below they were being carefully watched and observed, Akari curiously looked at the group eyeing each individual as she carefully balanced herself on a tree branch above. Inhaling the air around her she tried to pick up a scent but even her strong nose couldn't distinguish between the individuals, deciding it was too risky to move closer she relied on her weak eyesight to scope out the scene.

After several minutes of staring at the group Akari spotted a woman with violet hair, she had been told was exclusive to the Kamiki family, although much darker and tamer than hers, she recognized the shade anywhere. "Is that her?" she wondered aloud, squinting to make out the woman's face, "this will not work I must get closer" she huffed jumping off the branch and landing softly.

Crouching in the nearby bushes and peering through the leaves she noticed the group now standing around the perimeter of the circle, "what are they doing?" she wondered aloud her eyes locked on the girl. So focused on making out her blurry face, Akari jumped and huffed angrily when a gunshot pierced the air startling her, shortly after the students ran off in opposite directions and into the large forest.

Watching the girl disappear into the thick greenery she made a move to follow her when she noticed a boy with dark hair quickly approaching her direction, knowing she would never move in time without being she buried herself further into the greenery hoping to not be spotted. Shortly after the boy quickly rushed past her, only centimeters away from where she was hiding, letting out a frightened squeak she accidentally triggered her transformation.

Her angle of view was now much shorter, she watched the legs of the boy rush off into the distance, along with him came a cloud of scent which overpowered her now even more sensitive nose. Struggling to control her rapid breathing she unwillingly inhaled the scent, 'a demon?' she thought in surprise, 'this is not good'. Feeling her chest tighten Akari now faced the challenge of her current form, hanging her head in frustration it gave her the view of her familiar white paws, 'well i'm less noticeable I suppose' she noted in defeat before padding off in the direction of the suspected Kamiki.

XxX

Shortly after the exorcists entered the forest, despite their location swarms of Chuci attacked them mercilessly, providing the first of many struggles they would encounter in the forest during their test. Rin was the first to fall victim to the relentless attack of the demons, desperately swatting away the moths he only grew more frustrated as they continued to swarm "ugh where are they coming from!?" he yelled angrily still beating away the moths before his attention was drawn away from the insects when a scream emitted from the darkened area near him, "huh, Shemi?!" he called only to hear more shrieking in response, "SHEIMI!" he called running off in the direction of the girl.

Meanwhile Bon and Konekomaru had previously been desperately chanting bible verses to kill the swarming demons around them, and with much success they had been freed from the insects and continued their journey forward. Rin however, had finally reached Sheimi and desperately tried to swat away the insects with his faux sword with little success, panicking at the growing swarm he snapped. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" he growled viciously causing blue flames to burst from his body and light up the surrounding area in a blinding blue light. The Chuchi immediately died and Rin collapsed in defeat, "dammit I am too dependent on them.." he cursed.

XxX

Meanwhile Akari slunk through the forest in her fox form, careful to avoid all the exorcists that ran through the forest, breaking through a the thick wall of greenery in a small clearing nearby she saw Izumo viciously beating away the Chuchi. Her golden eyes widened and she had to stop herself from rushing in to help the woman, 'why is she attacking them? why are they hurting her?' the fox asked herself, 'unless..'. Carefully slinking forward the demon hid in a thick bush mere meters away from the girl, observing her actions it wasn't long before Izumo pulled out the paper square from her pocket.

"I humbly beseech thee, to grant mine by virtue of mine prayer" Izumo shouted frantically still attempting to beat away the moths, seconds later two white foxes burst from the circles and immediately begun exterminating the Chuchi. Akari watched in amazement as Mike and Uke effortlessly tore through the wall of insects, however her admiration soon turned to disdain as she noticed the girl standing back and letting the foxes do the work. After several more long minutes the remaining moths lay dead on the ground and the girl fell to the ground in exhaustion, the foxes exchanging words before disappearing. Akari still in her fox form, cautiously walked closer to the girl trying to get a scent,

'she smells...human?' Akari noted confused, 'but she can summon Mike and Uke?' For the first time she considered that perhaps they weren't related after all, and the shrine foxes had perhaps told a cruel lie to motivate her to leave. Shortly after Izumo clambered to her feet and wiped the dust from her skirt, she dashed back into the forest. Akari had to make a split second decision on whether she wanted to follow the girl or not, looking at her fast disappearing figure she let out a long sigh and walked in the opposite direction.

XxX

Shura finished off the drink in several large sips before crushing the can in her hand and throwing it into the growing pile beside her, "how many more of those are you going to drink?" Yukio asked irritably.

"oh yer just upset because yer brother used his flames not even an hour into the test!" Shura snickered,

"I feel like he's reaching the limit of concealing his power" he confessed,

Shura tisked, "yer gettin' to old, ya worry way too much".

Ignoring her comment Yukio looked into the forest in the direction of his brother, "why are you hanging around here Shura? Why don't you just inform the Vatican?"

"Ive put my report on hold, he requested that I teach him about his sword" she explained "he told me he wants to become the paladin" she snickered.

"wait seriously?" Yukio asked in disbelief,

"yep, at first when Shiro asked me I thought hell no, it doesn't really appeal to me but as for the way I train Rin, im sure 'he'd' agree too" she remarked vaguely looking into the sky to where Mephisto and Amaimon hovered above.

Amaimon scowled while Mephisto looked down at her from the night sky in amusement, "that woman noticed us, how insolent" Amaimon commented dryly,

"has the Lord of the forest agreed to co-operate?" Mephisto asked,

Amaimon looked down at the camp with interest, "yes, since they have murdered so many of his bretherin" he replied. "that woman is a hiderence, she's hiding Kurikara...I wonder how we can provoke Okumura".

"I'm glad you're enthusiastic, but this time you'll do what I tell you to do. Don't start an earthquake" Mephisto warned, "oh, and don't kill any of them, it's a messy situation to clean up". The earth king ignored his comment and continued to stare into the forest with excitement and anticipation, "he's not even listening to me" Mephisto huffed.

XxX

"what the hell is that!?" Rin barked eyeing the large stone lantern with interest, "it's huge! How are we supposed to get that back to camp",

"it's a peg lantern" Bon muttered examining the object, "once it's lit, it begins to move around and eats anything living for fuel, women being it's favorite, we'll need to co-operate to move it" he concluded.

"co-operate? you were pretty against that earlier, every person for themselves you said" Rin huffed eyeing Bon with doubt,

"I was confused by the fact they said there were only three lanterns!" Bon retorted, "we gotta work together on this one, anyone know Kamiki's and Takara's numbers?"

"I asked her for it, but she would give it to me" Shima sighed, "and Takara never talks to anyone, I doubt he would hand out his number".

The group nodded in agreement and let out a collective groan, "guess it's just us then" Bon sighed,

"uh well I thought of a formation that'll get the lantern and all of us back" Konekomaru suggested before picking up a stick and drawing a diagram in the dirt, "here let me explain"

XxX

Akari trotted down the worn pathway untill her path was blocked by a small stream, sighing she sat beside and dipped her soft white paws into its cooling water. Her golden eyes stared back at her from the reflection and anger washed over her, 'I came all this way for nothing' she thought bitterly, 'and I cannot go back'. For once she was thankful for her random transformations, because at least in this form she couldn't cry. "I have no one now, where will I go?"she whispered shakily,

"huh? what's this?" a voice muttered behind her, "ah...so I guess brother was right",

Akari whipped around to see who had interrupted her thoughts and was instead left staring up at the demon in shock, "the earth king?" she yipped with wide eyes. He looked down at her with interest and before she could move her trembling body he had snatched her up by the scruff of her neck and held the fox at eye level,

"that's me" he replied flatly, "now...who are you?"

XxX

The exwires had been successfully travelling with the lit lantern through the forest for several minutes until they were stopped in the tracks by a long rickety bridge. "ah crap, there's a bridge!" Rin called to the group in dismay, "dammit! it looks more like a ladder than a bridge, there's not way its gonna hold us!"

Shima looked down at the river to find that it consisted of various worms and bugs, "that's it...i'm done, i'm not doing this!" he paled eyeing the writhing insects.

"Hey everyone, Bon's got a plan" Konekomaru announced causing everyone to fall silent and look at him with anticipation. Quickly and without explanation Bon pulled out a sketchbook and pen and begun describing the plan while continuously chanting,

:Konekomaru and Okumura will carry the cart across, and be waiting with a tailsment to re-seal the lantern. Shima will carry Moriyama across causing the lantern to chase after them, then once on the other side, Rin and Konekomaru will re-seal it in the cart:

"aha great plan Bon" Rin praised earning a scowl from the other student, "and you're actually pretty good at drawing",

"im going to die" Shima whined, "all those bugs touching me" he shuddered, "no way".

He didn't miss Rin's eyeroll as he trodded over to the insect pit and examined it with reluctance, "ugh fine.. I'll do it" he volunteered before lifting Sheimi onto his shoulder's suddenly enticing a surprised gasp but no protest. "Come on, let's do this" he announced confidently.

XxX

Akari couldn't help the slight trembling that took over her body, "I am, uh... no one, so you can let me go!" Akari rambled squirming in the man's grip, "just passing through, really!"

Amaimon tightened his grip and dug his claws further into the scruff of her neck enticing a hiss of pain, "no, Byakko don't stray from their shrines unless they have a purpose" he muttered eyeing the fox with suspicion.

"uh, well I've completed my purpose so you can let me go" she squeaked, "besides, shouldn't you be more worried about the humans?"

"well that is my purpose, i'm going to test the son of Satan" he boasted, "I plan to fight him".

"he's here? in this forest?" she paled flattening her long ears against her head in fear, "I have picked the worst day to come here" she mumbled. Suddenly she felt the grip loosen slightly but still remain somewhat firm, "let me live, I'll make a deal with you" she quickly offered.

This caught the earth king's interest and he looked at her with doubt, "what could I possibly need?"

Akari hurriedly thought of something a powerful demon could want, since she couldn't offer him her usual deal of power or knowledge, 'ah, I know...' she thought. "a powerful Familiar?"

"I hope your not offering yourself" he scoffed eyeing the fox,

"I don't normally look like this!" she yipped defensively, "I'll have you know i'm the daughter of the great and powerful nine-tails" she boasted.

"then I should hold you hostage" he concluded,

"no, he is sealed away, and I am not welcome at my...old home.." she trailed off. "But forget that, I am of more use alive than dead!" she chirped cheerily hoping her fake confidence would convince him. Amaimon dropped her to the ground causing her land in an ungraceful white heap of fur, masking her scowl with a canine grin she looked up at the man anxiously, "what do you think?"

"wait here, he's close" he replied absently looking into the distant wall of trees, "I'll see how I feel after my fight" he muttered before scratching something into the dirt with a claw and walking away.

"wait come back" she growled before attempting to run after him, however as soon as she moved her paw forward thick thorned vines burst from the ground and wrapped around her neck and back legs pulling her down onto the dirt. "dammit" she yelped, "dammit, dammit, dammit!" she cursed struggling against the vines and dragging her claws into the dirt in frustration as she watched the Earth King disappear into the forest.

XxX

Bon and Rin led the exhausted group into the safety of the camp and protective barrier, expectantly as soon as everyone reached the inner section of the camp they collapsed with exhaustion and sighed with relief.

"i'm glad that's over" Rin yawned before eyeing Izumo and Takara, "wait.. you guys already passed!?" he exclaimed eyeing the pair in disbelief,

"I just got my familiars to pull it here, and your just slow" Izumo replied coldly.

"good work everyone, yer all managed to get back alive and on time" Shura cheered clapping her hands together drunkingly, "but, what about the-"

She was cut off when Amaimon suddenly descended from the high treetops and landed softly in front of the camp, careful not to cross the barrier, followed by his pet Hobgoblin. "taaadaaa" he called enthusiastically.

"shit not you again!" Rin cursed taking several steps back anxiously,

"me again" he replied casually before taking the leash of the goblin, "go Behemoth!" he commanded sending the demon forward.

"what are yer doing!?" Shura growled glaring at Rin, "get your head out of yer ass and help" she barked quickly summoning her blade,

"help, how? you took my sword!" he retorted.

"ugh, never mind" Shura dismissed before muttering something under her breath, minutes later a white snake writhed up from the soft earth while a bright purple flame emitted from its form. "I'll just do everything" she huffed before the fire from the snake spread to the outer edges of the circle and lit the edges in its brilliant flame, signalling the activation of the barrier. Shortly after the flame had reached the border of the camp it exploded in a inferno and created a powerful shock wave that easily threw the Earth King away from the camp and propelled him into the treetops a fair distance away.

Amaimon sat in the tree tops in shock, not processing what just happened, "not as easy as I thought" is all he could say,

"it doesn't seem to be going as planned, she's a tough opponent, how will you defeat her?" Mephisto asked in a taunting tone.

The earth king gnawed on this thumb nail anxiously and eyed the camp with disdain, "I have a plan"

* * *

I'm crazy sorry this has taken so long to publish, but I was hoping to finish my other story before restarting this one, but I didn't anticipate how long it would go for, so I decided to just work on this in my limited spare time.


	2. Chapter 2 - Fox trap

_**Thank you to everyone who has faved and followed so far!**_

 _ **Reviews are always appreciated ;)**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, please enjoy!**_

* * *

Akari lifted her head from her white paws and narrowed her amber eyes suspiciously, watching the bright purple flashing and glowing in the not too far distance, an unusual sight foreign to her. Her fuzzy vision struggled to focus on the details of the scene, and to her further misfortune the wind carried the scent in the opposite direction. Before long the soft violet light had grown to almost double the size, expanding in a blinding light, the surrounding trees beginning to bend back from the force and the perimeter of light quickly etching it's way towards the clearing.

Letting out a sharp squeak she dug her claws into the dirt and quickly tried to scramble away from the clearing as the cleansing light slowly approached, she had no idea what is was or what it did, but if the exorcists caused it, it couldn't be good for her. Her escape attempt were once again unsuccessful, the thick vines still pulling her back to the base, her small form too weak to fight back.

"No, no, no" she squeaked desperately tearing at the vines with her long teeth, before glancing once again at the shell of light, her heart froze and to her surprise and relief had stopped expanding. However this didn't last as before she could sigh in relief, the bubble of violet light exploded in an even brighter white light, blinding Akari and causing a hiss of pain to escape her lips.

Disorientated and dizzy it felt as if someone had struck her across the head with a heavy book, the sky above her spinning and the earth seeming to shake. Rolling onto her side she propped her body up and looked around, nothing had changed except her. When Akari raised her arm to line of sight she was pleasantly surprised to find her large paws were replaced with her normal clawed hands, but less impressed to see that the thick vines had remained around her ankles.

Akari scowled and from the corner of her eye saw an object resembling a human flying through the air, not paying it much attention she begun picking at the vines which had begun to loosen, only slightly, but all she needed was a small amount.

XxX

As Amaimon was ungracefully flung through the air by the force of Shura's barrier he flailed his limbs around, desperately trying to aim for a nearby cluster of trees, meanwhile a string of curses and insults to call her flew through his mind. Before the Earth King knew it he had hit a large pine tree, hard, the thick trunk splintering beneath his body as he slid down the rough bark, eventually stopping on a low branch, "damn it" he muttered picking the pine needles from his hair.

"I was hoping to enjoy my tea and watch the show unfold" Mephisto's condescending tone remarked, "but...it doesn't seem to be going as how you planned it".

"Obviously not" Amaimon huffed clambering to his feet and brushing the needles from his clothes, "I just want to kill...one".

Mephisto crossed his legs and took a short sip from the dainty porcelain cup in his gloved hand, "If you try to kill any one of them, I will slaughter you" he remarked lowly.

The Earth King looked up at his brother with annoyance but nodded in compliance regardless, "got it, I won't" he stated shortly, "but I will hurt them".

"Do as you will, but nothing fatal, or crippling" Mephisto reminded, "I need them all alive and well for now",

"what of the Fox?" Amaimon commented absently,

"What fox? A Byakko in the forest?" Mephisto muttered, "Most likely dead if it was within the barriers range".

"I see" he replied flatly, "well, wish me luck".

XxX

Shura peered into the distance, examining the trees for any sign of the Earth King. Finding nothing but a trail of broken trees, she turned to the rest of the stunned group, "the barrier will protect anyone inside, and keep powerful demons out. We'll be safe for now",

Bon scowled and shot a glance at the distance which Amaimon flew, "a protective barrier? Is this also part of our training? More importantly, what the hell was that?!"

"Training's over" Shura announced grimly, "from now on we're gonna be prepain' and defendin' ourselves from Amaimon's attacks".

The young exorcists all stood silent in shock, before rounds of complaining and worried questions were being fired at the instructor, "are you talking about one of the Eight Kings!? The King of Earth?!" Izumo remarked shrilly.

"Yep" Shura chirped, "pretty much impossible fer any exorcist to defeat, that's why we gotta be on the defense for now". Walking over to the tents she retrieved several large canisters of holy water before flicking off the lids and with many complaints and curses doused the students, with the exception of Rin. "Alright, that should minimize the damage he inflicts" she announced throwing the empty canisters to the side.

XxX

Shoving another clip of ammo into his pistols Yukio precisely aimed and shot down waves of the Chuchi, which to his disdain never seemed to end. As the pile of Chuchi and ammo clips grew at his feet he cursed Shura for sending him out here. "What's the meaning of this?'" he asked himself as the insect demons swarmed around his body, 'the Chuchi of this forest were hand reared by tamers, they shouldn't be attacking exorcists' he noted, dodging the flying demons. "What is he up to?"

XxX

Shura placed her hand on the mark on her stomach, mumbling a handful of words under her breath, which to Rin's surprise allowed a sword to pass through the seal. "Take it" she offered bluntly dumping the weapon in his hands.

"Didn't you say you'd only give it back to me if I defeated you!?" he protested,

Shura shot him a confused glance and shook her head softly, "nah my condition was I would give it back accordin' to my judgment. So just take it",

"You wanted me to suppress my flames yeah!? You told me to put them out?!" he barked handing the weapon back to Shura roughly.

"shuddup yer idiot, I said that but yer flames came out anyway!" she huffed shoving the sword back, "Amaimon ain't no small fry, it's gonna take a lot to hold him off. If yer don't have yer flames how are ya gonna fight?"

Just as Rin opened his mouth to argue a shocked yelp came from the other side of the camp, Izumo stood horrified as Shiemi walked over the barrier lines. "Oi Sheimi whattya doing!?" Shura barked rushing over to retrieve the girl, only to skid to a stop in her tracks as the Earth King dropped down from the trees. Shiemi walking blindly into his awaiting arms, a smug grim plastered on his face.

"What did you do to her?!" Rin howled angrily, Shura holding him back with the flat of her blade,

"hmm well I had a female Chuchi lay an egg inside her" he replied absently stroking the blonde's hair as her blank stare was locked on the ground. "It took awhile from incubation, but now they have hatched and are living in her nervous system...right now this girl will only obey my commands" he replied slyly.

"Sheimi come on wake up!" Rin called desperately, the edge of the blade holding him from crossing the barrier, the rest of the exorcists remained silent and before Shura could say anything the Earth King had scooped up Shiemi and held her on his arm.

"Come on" he mumbled before disappearing back into the dense trees,

Shura let out a defeated sigh and lowered her blade, "well this isn't ideal".

"Come back cone head!" Rin screeched running at the direction of the pairs disappearance, "come back her right now and fight me!" However just as he left the safety of the barrier, Amaimon's forgotten familiar charged from the underbrush like a feral boar, blindly running towards the boy with its mouth wide open exposing rows of sharp teeth. Rin skidded to a halt and quickly turned on his heel in a desperate attempt to return to the safety of the barrier, he could hear the demons stomping coming closer and closer until he could feel its heavy breath on his back.

Just as the beast's teeth were inches from the boy, Shura rushed forward and effortlessly swatted it away with her blade, sending it into the not too far distance. "Idiot, you're an complete idiot sometimes you know that!" she barked throwing the boy's blade to his feet. "Go, i'll catch up with ya later" she called walkig off to the distance to finish off the Hobgoblin.

Bon watched as the dark haired boy quickly sprinted into the distance of the Earth King, "unbelievable, he's doing it again! Always trying to be a hero!" he growled. "What can he do against him!?"

"Now isn't the time for that!" Shura scolded from afar, "even if I die stay in the barrier!"

Reluctantly the Exwires obeyed her command, but positioned themselves at the edge of the circle in the event of an enemy approaching, watching with a careful eye.

XxX

Mephisto leaned his head against his hand, this was going on much longer than he expected, although he would be lying if he said that he wasn't impressed with his brother's trickery. However, this show was drawing itself far too long for his liking, and as he watched the Exwires frantically scrambling around inside the barrier his thoughts were drawn to earlier conversations. Particularly his brother's mention of a Byakko, figuring he had some spare time on his hands and was interested to see why such a creature would come this way without a tamer.

Turning the large plush chair in the opposite direction his green eyes carefully scanned the surrounding area below, looking for flashes of white or a etheral fast moving figure. However after several minutes of searching, he spotted neither, instead in a large clearing below sat a miserable looking women, wrapped in a tatty kimono, absently scratching at the thick vines around her legs and wrists. He could recognize them anywhere, but this was unusual for Amaimon to trap humans without killing them, 'perhaps he is coming back to her later?' he noted. Lowering the chair more he could study her better, she appeared to be digging through a small satchel of items.

Akari shuffled through the contents of her small back, eventually dumping the contents onto the ground and sorting through the items, "spare Kimono? No... Pipe? No...Hair pins? Uh, no". Still sifting and sorting through the items for something to help her escape she found nothing, although the ivory knife she had was sharp, she knew it would be useless against a demons power.

"I could summon.. her I suppose.." she thought aloud, mulling the idea through her mind, "absolutely not! If someone saw I would be humiliated!" At the very thought of having to resort that low she could feel her tail thumping in anger, "this is so embarrassing!"

At seeing the tip of a white fox tail peek out from beneath the loose kimono Mephisto raised a brow, "she's a demon then, no wonder he kept her here, probably sought to finish her off later" he mumbled recalling his brother's tendency to pick fights with other demons. Lowering the chair even more he hovered meters from the ground, careful to be out of striking range. "rather humiliating the way you are now isn't it?" he asked slyly,

Akari's pointed ears perked at the sound and she cautiously looked around for the source of the voice, "who are you? Where are you?" she demanded quickly shoving the hem of her kimono over her tail. "I don't appreciate being-" Akari cut herself off when she finally looked up and saw the man, "o-oh no" she squeaked.

"oh no indeed" Mephisto frowned, "it appears you've had a run in with my dear little brother, and for whatever reason he hasn't killed you yet",

"how unlucky can I be in one day!" Akari cried, "I only got away by the skin of my teeth with the first one, I don't have that much luck left!"

Mephisto frowned and let out a long exhale, "awfully dramatic aren't you?"

Ignoring him once again Akari continued to babble, "please don't kill me, I have a deal with you're brother, just ask him, really! I talked to him he's keeping me alive for a good reason I swear!"

"And for what reason is that exactly?" he asked narrowing his eyes, this was all sounding very unusual for his brother, he was not known to make deals,

"I-it was for a familiar contract" she replied feeling her throat tighten, "he said he'd think about it".

"Think about it?" he repeated frowning thoughtfully, "why you of all demons? You're trembling at the sight of me? How will you serve him?"

"Because I thought you would kill me!" she defend, "I-i'll have you know i'm very powerful!"

"Hmm i'm sure you are" Mephisto replied in a condescending tone, "that explains why you're trapped, surely if you were as powerful as you say, you would be free yes?"

"well...it's a long story" she mumbled, "it seems whatever that was took away much of my power".

"bold of a demon to admit it's weak" he remarked in amusement,

ignoring his remarked she glanced up at the smug demon, "well, will you set me free?" She pleaded, "surely, you are kinder than him?"

Mephisto let out a short chuckle and glanced into the distance at seeing the trees rustling, "you are wrong fox, I would not set you free even if I had the ability".

"I will set my deal with you then!" she offered, "just set me free I don't want him to return",

"such awful things for a familiar to say" he tisked. "Your fate is his decision since you are his catch, I cannot influence or change it",

Akari opened her mouth once again to beg for her life but at seeing the demon's stern stare fixed on her she saw no room for argument. "Well...if by chance you could waver his choice in my favor you will be rewarded".

"kind of you fox, but you have not much to offer" Mephisto muttered, "best of luck, perhaps we will see each other again", he offered reassuringly before heading off into the distance of the disturbance. The show was starting again.

XxX

"What are you going to do to her?!" Rin barked staring up at the Earth King with hatred,

"I haven't thought of that" he admitted tapping his chin with a long clawed finger thoughtfully. "Oh! I know... I'll make her my bride!'

"What!? You can't be serious!" Rin protested,

Ignoring the half demon Amaimon turned to Sheimi and cleared his throat, "now that's been decided, time for the vows...Do you take me in sickness and in health? To love? To honor? To help? Do you swear to uphold this vow? Till death do us part?"

Sheimi's blank stare remained fixed on the ground, her limp body supported by Amaimon's arm, Rin below watching in shock and wondering if she would recall her marriage ceremony. "Now... to seal seal the vow with a kiss" he muttered opening his jaw to almost inhuman proportions,

"Don't screw around!" Rin screamed finally reaching his boiling point. Swinging his still covered sword over his head and bringing it down on Amaimon's head, hard, but much to his dismay the attack had little affect. And with a mere flick of the wrist the Earth King flung him across the forest with ease.

XxX

The remaining Exwires watching in horror and amazement as Rin was flung hundreds of feet through the air, eventually landing in painful heap nearby, only mere meters from the protection of the circle. "Holy shit" Bon muttered before running off towards Rin, much to the protest of the other group members.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Izumo hissed, "she told us not to leave the circle!"

Shima quickly rushed to the boy's side and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt in an attempt to slow him down, "Bon! Just calm down okay!?"

Tearing his shirt from his freind's grip he glanced back at the group, "I'm pissed off! Leave that composure shit for the dogs!"

"Ugh what's with him!?" Shima cursed running after his friend, several seconds later Konekomaru reluctantly ran after the pair leaving Izumo alone.

XxX

"How strange.." Amaimon begun, "isn't this human girl is so important to you?" he asked gesturing to Sheimi,

Rin lifted his face from the pile of rubble it lay in, "drop dead asshole" he spat.

"Well looks like she's useless to me now" he shrugged examining her face, "since I've gone to the effort, I may as well take one of her eyes, my cousin has an interest in the occult, perhaps I could get her some for her collection".

"Don't you dare" he snarled, struggling to move his heavy limbs, "don't you touch her",

"hmm, well it isn't-" Amaimon was cut off when a small object whizzed past his head and exploded in a small cracking noise, both demons turned around in surprise to see Bon, Shima and Konekomaru, all in offensive postures, apparently ready to fight.

You idiots" Rin cursed under his breath, barely able to make out Bon's yelling over the ringing in his ears,

"Okumura, get the hell out of here as soon as you can!" he called.

"I have to save Sheimi" Rin called back, "you guys just get out of here already!"

Just as Bon opened his mouth to protest a firecracker whizzed past his head, mere inches from his face, eventually finding it's way to Amaimon and hitting the demon's hair in a weak explosive burst. For once in the past day, the forest was completely silent and the Exwires quickly retreated several steps from the Earth King realizing their mistake.

"Uh it slipped through my hand!" Konekomaru squeaked,

Shima burst into a round of barking laughter at seeing Amaimon's hair now a poofy mess, "it looks like broccoli!" he wheezed. Hunched over in a fit of uncontrollable laughter before looking up to see a flash of green and purple, a powerful force throwing him against the nearby cliff face.

Immediately at seeing his pink haired freind tossed like a ragdoll, Konekomaru rushed in front of Bon, using his smaller frame to attempt to shield him from the demons attacks. However Amaimon continued forward barely noticing the boy, a mere tap on his arm shattering the bones inside and sending him to a painful heap on the ground.

"Don't laugh at me" the Earth King muttered before wrapping his hand around Bon's throat, who stood frozen in fear.

XxX

Akari looked into the sky to see its dark navy blue turning a soft mix of light blue, pink and orange, the sun barely beginning to peak over the distant mountains, soon dawn would arrive and along with it the hot summer sun, something she tried to avoid. Looking once more in the direction of the earlier disturbance, which now sounded much closer, she could make out the furious yells of several people, along with popping of firecrackers. The fox awaited both somewhat eagerly but anxiously for the return of Amaimon, where he would decide her fate, something she didn't look forward too but neither did she with limbo.

However after the yelling had briefly subsided and the forest was silent, a piercing blue light filled the air, along with demonic screams, presumably from the source of the light.

"I've heard about this" she noted aloud trying to recall the information. "Was that half demon the famous son of Satan?...No, it is impossible for him to have the flames" she muttered under breath,staring at the vibrant flames in the not too far distance. She could swear that the crashes and banging in the distance were causing the ground to shake, and even with her weak eyesight she could see another human shaped object flying through the air.

"Oh I hope he wins" she sighed.

XxX

Yukio carefully guided the small metal hook into the red swollen lump at the base of Sheimi's neck, pulling out the writhing Chuchi larvae and eyeing it with disgust, "absolutely horrible" he muttered under his breath.

"Oh there ya are Yukio!" Shura called running towards him,

"and just where the hell did you go off to?" he barked eyeing the panting woman with irritation.

"I've been dealin' with Amaimon's pet!" Shura huffed in annoyance, "but now it's run back to it's master",

"so it is still alive?" Yukio sighed standing up and squashing the larvae beneath his shoe, "great".

"Nevermind about that!" Shura barked pointing towards the direction of the disturbance, "we gotta leave, now"

XxX

Lifting the cup from the saucer below Mephisto let out a long defeated sigh, the fight had progressed much further than he expected, both of his brother's seeming to be turning more and more feral by the minute. Each taking great pleasure in throwing the other to the ground or tearing chunks of skin away with claw or sword, "such is the nature of a demon I suppose" Mephisto noted. Watching the fight slowly build until it had reached the boiling point, if he allowed it any longer than the forest along with the students inside would be nothing more than a crater, very inconvenient for him.

The two feral snarling demons charged at each other mid air, each appearing to go for the final kill, something the Director couldn't have. The decision was final and absolute, he knew what had to be done, otherwise this would end horribly. Just as the pair were meters away from devastating collision much to their dismay, braced the impact of both Amaimon's fist and Rin's sword, "that's quite enough" he announced, "this has gone on long enough".

XxX

In the sky appeared the most unusual thing Akari by far had ever seen not only today, but in her lifetime, covered in sweets and nauseatingly colorful she couldn't look away from the large clock shaped item, "is this the King of Time's doing?" Narrowing her eyes cautiously she could make out the struggling form of a battered and bruised Earth King, slowly receding into the confines of the clock. She felt her heart drop and dread begin to fill her thoughts, however to her surprise and pleasure the thick vines keeping her confined to the clearing, had begun to rot away, enough for her to tear herself free and escape. Tearing the greenery from her skin she scrambled to her numb legs, "my luck has turned around!" she chirped cheerfully. Before throwing the bag back over her shoulder and sprinting into the thick greenery, only to come face to face with a very upset Hobgoblin.

XxX

Mephisto grabbed Rin violently by the wrist, "what troublesome younger brothers" he muttered under his breath avoiding the wild swings Rin would throw. The vibrant blue flames still burning on the school in the distance caused the King of Time to let out a pensive sigh. With a muttered set of words he had transported him and his still fighting younger brother to the burning school tower with a puff of pink smoke, a scowl coated his face. However much to his misfortune, Yukio, Shura and a group of traumatized Exwires shared their stares between him and Arthur, who had already arrived at the scene. "Oh my it has been awhile hasn't it Angel?" Mephisto commented idly hiding the worry in his tone. He had much to explain.


	3. Chapter 3 - Tails to tell

**God damn I'm sorry about the long gap between chapters, I've been trying to finish off my other story, but when that's done this will be #1 priority.**

Thanks for all the follows/favs and review so far, and as always constructive criticism is very welcome!

Thanks for reading please enjoy!

 **Not a particularly interesting chapter sorry! It's more about Akari settling in and such, this is more about how she's fitting into true cross I guess. Also I know the whole pipe thing isn't canon, but I read about magical smoke with healing properties in Japanese (?) mythology ages ago and I thought it would be cool to incorporate, I didn't really want to just give her generic demon powers afterall. Also she may not seem that interesting right now, but I have big plans in terms of her personality and character development!**

* * *

Akari's shocked gaze was locked with the large bloodshot eyes of Behemoth, an unblinking stare locked on her, it's grotesque features formed into a curious frown. "I uh..you're the Earth Kings familiar right?" She blurted out, the creature merely frowned at her words and slowly dragged it's stumpy feet forward. "Amaimon!" She chirped slowly backing away from the creature, "you belong to him? yes?"

At hearing it's masters name the hobgoblin stopped in it's tracks, it's curious demeanor fading to a morose frown. "Where is he?" She asked softly, Grunting in reply it looked away from her worried gaze, choosing to plant itself on the ground in defeat. "Okay" she muttered figuring she wouldn't get anything out of him, "I guess you don't know the common tongue".

As the fox turned on her heels to walk away from the demon a small whimper could be heard from the beast. Figuring he was mourning the loss of his master she continued on her journey.

As she continued down her path, her sensitive ears picked up the heavy breathing and footsteps of the demon following her. "What is it?" she huffed turning around to glare at the hobgoblin, who looked up meekly in reply. "I do not know what to do with you" she huffed standing over it, "I do not know where he went.

Akari pointed towards the direction of the now extinguished school in the distance "Go back to the school, his brother may take you in". However as she looked at the path the hobgoblin had walked she noticed a thick trail of dark liquid leading to the demon, "blood?" She muttered kneeling down in front Behemoth, "turn around" she commanded.

Apparently he knew the language much better than she expected as he obediently, but slowly turned around, exposing it's back to the fox, which to her surprise was covered in deep slashes that oozed a reddish brown liquid.

XxX

"It has been awhile since we've seen each other Mephisto" Arthur drawled, "i'm sure you know about my recently appointed title of Paladin, which means that I am your boss...Shura" he commented idly glancing at the fuming woman.

Before Mephisto could make a snide comment Shura beat him to it, "what are ya doin' here" she demanded more than asked. With a coy smile he slowly approached the woman, whispering his reply in her ear,

"Well you see, it was your duty to investigate whether Fugimoto was conspiring with the head of the Japanese branch, but there have been not so much as a peep out of you, now tell me, why is that?"

His condescending tone made Shura's blood boil, but through gritted teeth she forced a reply, "I'm not the only spy dispatched" she whispered back.

Suddenly Rin who was previously struggling quietly let out a fustrated snarl, "let go" he growled, flames still surrounding his form wildly,

Arthur quickly turned his attention to the boy, "now, what do we have here? It seems this creature is related to Satan, the blue flames are unmistakable" he noted dryly, "Immediate extermination was permitted if such a creature was to be found".

Mephisto allowed a smirk to split his features before taking the sword from Rin and sliding it back into it's sheath, the change in the young demon's appearance was immediate. The blue flames fizzled out and disappeared before he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. "The Grigori will be informed of your betrayal, this incident is all the evidence I need" Arthur commented snidely.

Mephisto let out a long sigh before grabbing Rin by the arm and pulling him to his feet, "wake up" he commanded giving him a shake which caused his eyes to flick open, "be prepared for a demon sword fight" he advised.

"Huh, wait what?" Rin asked, his voice raw and raspy, "where am-" before he could finish his sentence Arthur held the boy up by his neck, the edge of his blade positioned before the boy's neck.

"By the order of True Cross Academy's supreme advisor of Grigori, I will execute Satan's spawn" Arthur announced proudly. Rin shut his eyes preparing for the blade to inevitably sever his head from his body, however just as he opened his eyes, both to his and Mephisto's surprise, Shura blocked the large blade with her own.

As the sound of metal colliding with metal rang through the area, the pair brought their swords down in the other's direction, the exwires still in shock having enough sense to stay out of the way, Yukio guiding them to a safer spot. "Shura, why are you protecting Satan's spawn?!" Arthur barked, knocking the blade out of her hand and pinning her against a wall with his own. "I've heard that Fugimoto asked you to teach this demon brat how to use his sword, don't tell me you intend to comply with the dying wishes of your old teacher?" Arthur scoffed, "he was one of the most incompetent Paladins i've ever seen".

"Shut up yer idiot! Ya don't know what you're talkin' about!" Shura barked, sensing he had hit a nerve Arthur's grinned widened,

"what an interesting joke. However orders from the Grigori are absolute even for-" He paused, listening to the voice coming through his earpiece, "Yes, understood" he murmured back before releasing a disgruntled Shura. "In a very strange turn of events, an order has come through for the decision that I will personally, preform the disciplinary action against you Mephisto, naturally I will be taking the spawn of Satan as evidence" he announced.

Mephisto and Shura raised a brow before glancing at each other in confusion, "how surprising indeed" he commented idly, "i'm looking forward to it".

Ignoring his sarcasm Arthur and Shura turned to walk towards the courtroom, Arthur dragging Rin by the collar of his shirt behind him. He looked over to see his class staring at him in shock, a mixture of painted betrayal and hatred written on their faces. While Bon directed his stern glare towards him, Yukio and Shiemi averted their gaze, and that is what hurt him the most.

XxX

"Oh my, what could have done this" she whispered tracing her long clawed fingers around the edge of the wounds, to which the demon let out a low warning growl. "Relax" she muttered, still examining the lacerations before dumping the contents of her bag onto the ground nearby. As she shuffled through the items, from the corner of her eye she watched the miserable familiar stare into the distance where Amaimon was last seen, it's toothy mouth fixed in a frown.

"He will come back" Akari mumbled stuffing a herb into the end of her pipe, "he won't forgot about you... like he did me". Behemoth remained morose, "I have to remove this" the fox motioned to the harness he wore, and with little protest, cut it lose. "I can try to heal you" she sighed lighting the end of the pipe with a match, waiting for the herb to catch alight. "This one time we found a group of Reapers...An exorcist had thrown holy water on them.."

The hobgoblin listened to her speak despite the fact he understood little of what she was saying. "It did not kill them instantly, but it would have eventually, just..slowly and painfully" she sighed unscrewing the lid of a wooden tub, before slathering the ointment on him with little protest. "Moko taught me how to make this ointment, she said it would cure any and all pains, no matter the demon... She was really smart you know, she told me how to use this" she continued gesturing to the pipe in between her lips.

"She encouraged me to use it for good, like for example healing those Reapers..." Talking a deep breath she held the smoke in her mouth before exhaling the light blue smoke over Behemoths back, the opaque cloud coating the demon in a fog, he let out short wheezes but remained relatively still regardless.

"An exorcist did this to you didn't they?" She sighed dumping the ashes onto the ground, and watching as the creatures skin slowly begun to knit together. "You were running away, but they kept attacking you... How..brutish".

After several more minutes the smoke had cleared from around the hobgoblin, his back now covered in thick scabs, there was nothing she could do about that. "Rather tame for a hobgoblin" She noted, not particularly expecting a reply. "Particularly towards me, I wonder why that is..." As soon as the thought left her lips she looked down at her kimono, the remnants of the Earth Kings vines woven and dusted onto the cloth.

"Ah, the scent" Akari realized bringing the cloth up to her nose to find it held a strong smell of earth, akin to the demon's scent. "Not intelligent demons hobgoblins, but, extremely loyal" she noted softly standing up slowly, "alright, I've done all I can, you may run back to your master wherever he may be".

XxX

As Yukio watched his brother being dragged away to court he felt a sense of disappointment weigh heavy in his stomach, not at Rin, but at himself. 'I couldn't protect him, I couldn't stop him' he thought meekly. However the sound of Shiemi's sobbing snapped him out of his frustrated daze, "what's wrong? are you hurt?" He asked turning around in surprise,

"He..I..w-we" she stammered, "h-he didn't say anything! As if it wasn't weird!".

"What I want to know is why the hell is Satan's kid here?!" Bon barked at no one in particular, although Yukio knew it was directed at him."I can't believe we trusted him!"

"I will explain everything" Yukio reassured leading the group to the medical center, "I'm sure you all have many questions".

"Damn right we do!" Bon snapped stomping past him, a still teary Shiemi following behind, her face buried in her hands.

XxX

Behemoth slowly climbed to his feet, a grateful twinkle in his beady eyes, but a cluelessness in his features. Akari expected him to run off into the forest, instead as she walked away he continued to follow her. Letting out a sigh she picked up the harness from the ground and walked over to the demon, extending a clawed hand.

"One time, a human family was having a picnic not too far from our shrine, and I suppose the child wondered off" she muttered as the hobgoblin placed his own clawed hand into her own. "It walked right into our shrine, started breaking and misplacing things as young children do".

As Akari walked she lead Behemoth by the hand like a child, somewhat surprised as his compliance, but eventually put it down to the fact he suspected that she knew where his master was. "Everyone was furious except Moko, who took it by the hand and returned him to the family" she recalled, occasionally looking down to see the creature vaguely listening. "They were very grateful, and gave us a donation, but the child threw a fit, it claimed it wanted to see the foxes again. Every year it returns, at the exact date and time, hoping to see them again. Every time Moko would offer it a cup of tea, and explain what he saw as childish delusions, then it would leave, until next year. But it will not be visting anymore, not since she died anyway...".

Akari glanced down at him once again, it appears he was awaiting the rest of the story, "it is nice to be listened to" she admitted, "the foxes would never listen to me for this long, it is weird, because I have a lot to say".

Before she knew it the pair reached the edge of the forest, broken trees and burned flora and earth littering the scene. Not too far in the distance was the school, towering high into the morning sky, "quite the walk" she sighed, continuing to lead the eager hobgoblin to the school, "that reminds me of another story..."

XxX

Mephisto drummed his gloved fingers on the desk, re-reading the court's hearing that they had provided him. The trial seeming like a blur, everything rushed past so fast due to the tiredness he had looming over him. Scanning through the notes he re-lived the hearing, the three Grigori sitting high up in the balcony with their elaborate robes and pretentious attitude. Him admitting that Rin was in fact the child of Satan, the relief of not having to keep the secret anymore being somewhat liberating. The shock when the court found out about his plans to use Rin as a weapon, and at hearing the arguments about him, the young demon snapping and declaring his independence and goals to be Paladin. Something Mephisto found amusing to imagine but in his 200 years of serving True Cross, he has seen stranger or less worthy people take the tile. And finally, him winning the majority vote and having to adhere to their conditions, the most unnerving is that Rin had to pass the exorcist authorization exam in 6 months, 'a short time frame' he noted. Despite everything he admitted, there was a fair amount of information the demon kept in the dark, he preferred it to be that way.

Shura had taken charge of him now, after Rin had pleaded with her to take him under her wing and train him. Mephisto knew she had a soft spot for him, something she may never admit but he noticed enough. He continued to read through the large file, which with every sentence he read his eyelids felt heavier and he slumped over in his chair, however just as he was about to climb onto the couch for a nap something caught his eye. Under the 'standard protical for hearings' section, which he often never read, in bold print stood the phrase :THE SCENE OF THE CRIME/S WILL BE SEARCHED FOR ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE, IF ANY IS FOUND THE VERDICT MAY BE RE-VISITED:

He kept re-reading the one condition, there was something unsettling about it he couldn't quite figure out, taking a sip from his tea which was mostly sugar he thought about the forest, and if there was anything in it that could incriminate him. 'The fox!' he recalled spraying the tea everywhere and jumping up from his desk wide eyed, "if they capture her, and she tell's them of Amaimon...I have to catch her!".

XxX

"Okay I can't go any further" Akari informed the hobgoblin, who continued to pull her hand towards the school despite her protest. "I'm serious" she huffed, "as much as I like to help, this is too much, I am not walking you to the door". Behemoth sensing her disapproval stubbornly sat down on the path, it's gaze fixed on the tower in the center of the school grounds.

"It's the middle of the day!" She squeaked watching the students in the distance rush between buildings. "I can't walk you through the school grounds! We'll both be killed!"

Behemoth ignored her outburst crossing is long arms stubbornly, letting out an occasional growl or huff in displeasure.

Akari let out a short frustrated scream kicking the dirt up in front of her, "Ugh okay listen, it is about afternoon I suppose, so, we will wait untill the classes start". Behemoth glanced at her but frowned, "wait! We will wait!" She emphasized, "you are by far one of the most frustrating creatures I have ever come across!".

XxX

Mephisto spared no in racing downstairs, rushing through the school grounds towards the forest, absently replying to greetings from teachers and students. Finally after several minutes of light jogging he reached the edge of the forest, hoping that they hadn't already begun the search. He rushed through the greenery, ignoring the many colorful signs he had out up warning students that entering the forest would induce immediately expulsion.

There was a nervous twitch in his lips he strided through the thick greenery, expecting to have to travel all the way back to clearing, having to cut the fox lose before the exorcists found her. However after mere minutes of walking he could hear the exasperated voice of the girl, quietly he crept closer, eventually able to make out her lavender hair and what appeared to be Behemoth.

'How convenient' he noted, 'I guess I won't be the one to kill her',

Much to his surprise instead of hearing screams and the sounds of tearing flesh, she appeared to be arguing with him.

"...We have discussed this already!" She rubbed her temples and tightened the rope to the tree, "we have to wait! Okay..wait!"

Ignoring her instructions the frowning Hobgoblin continued to pull against the makeshift leash. Mephisto lifted a brow in surprise, 'if only my brother could see this' he thought in amusement.

He watched on curiously as she continued to either reassure the beast or scold him. "Please co-operate, I'm-" Akari cut herself off just as a breeze rushed past her, along with it carried a familiar scent. "Dammit" She yelped, turning to where Mephisto hid, the pair briefly locking eyes. Rushing over to the tree her thin clawed fingers fumbled with the thick knot, curses slipping from her lips.

The director sighed and strode forth from the brush, Akari looked over her shoulder to see his form quickly approaching, her anxiety eventually building to dangerous levels, she could already feel the transformation coming on. Instead she chose to stand in front of the Hobgoblin, shielding his form with her own "Do not harm him!" she yelped.

Mephisto strode forward, his tall form towering over hers in an intimating manner, "getting more confident are we? Don't worry fox I won't harm him... You on the other hand.."

Akari's eye's widened and before she knew it with a cloud of smoke she stood a mere 2 feet tall, her transformation coming on earlier than expected. With a clumsy scurry she stumbled over her paws trying to run off into the brush. However she didn't get far before Mephisto grabbed her by her long brush tail and lifted her to eye level. "How dare you!" she snarled hanging upside-down swiping at him several times with clawed paws, each time the demon easily dodged her attacks.

"My isn't this something unusual, you must be the fox Amaimon referred to, it is nice to meet you" he muttered sarcastically,

"We have met before" she yipped not understanding the joke, "put me down this hurts!"

"I have questions" he stated flatly,

Akari let out a huff, "let go of my tail and I will comply then!"

"As the lady wishes" he shrugged, readjusting to instead hold her under her armpits in front of him, "my my, aren't you just adorable!" he snickered.

The fox's ear twitched irritably, "questions?"

"You have my brothers familiar, tied to a tree, why?" He asked glancing over at Behemoth who looked ecstatic to see him.

"he found me, and he was hurt, so I thought I should help. But now he would not leave me alone! So I was going to return him later" she explained the words clumsily rolling off her canine tongue.

"Hm I see, rather generous of you" he commented suspiciously,

"I like to help" she admitted, "I want to be a doctor..."

"For demons?" He scoffed, "unlikely".

Akari scowled and begun to struggle again, "let me go!" She hissed, before sharp claws pressed into her shoulder blades.

A sly grin split Mephisto's face, "I suggest you remain quiet if you are to here the excellent news!" He exclaimed cheerfully,

"You are letting me go?" She asked hopefully, a optimistic glimmer in her gold eyes.

"Hm, no, not quite...I'm sure you saw what happened to Amaimon earlier yes? Well before I had to...restrain him...he informed me of your offer, he wishes to partake".

"Really? I am to become his familiar?" She asked looking up at the demon, a mischievous smile across his face.

"Of course, he feels you can be of much use" he lied, "unfortunately, he will be away for sometime, so he has charged me with your care".

Her face faded to a frown, she couldn't say no and he knew it, searching for positives she found little to none, except for the fact she would be able to see the Kamiki up close, and find out why exactly, she was human.

"I-uh alright, thank you I suppose" she sighed, "when can I see him?"

Mephisto couldn't contain the sly tone in his voice, his plan was going perfectly, too perfectly. "I cannot say, but he told me that it would be best to temporarily bind you as my familiar".

Akari clenched her teeth unsure of the agreement, "well...if it is what he wants, he did spare my life..."

XxX

Mephisto continued to carry her all the way to the manor and down the the basement levels, her fox form was useful in sneaking Akari into the school, students coming up to them and patting her much to her disdain. "How long does this last" Mephisto asked referring to her change in form,

"it will depend" she answered shortly, "sometimes short, sometimes long".

"You were never taught how to control it?" he asked genuinely surprised,

"Moko had no such power, and the foxes had no patience" Akari summarized.

"Well that is something we must correct" he noted,

"Where are we going?" She asked softly, concerned that he left Behemoth upstairs,

"Special demons require special familiar contracts" he replied mysteriously.

XxX

"Mmm stop" Akari muttured sleeply swatting away the wet sensation on her cheek, which only continued to persist the more she swatted it away. "I said go away" she huffed rolling into her side, her golden eyes cracking open to come face to face with Behemoth.

"Oh god!" She screeched sitting up immediately, but regretting the decision as her head swam uncomfortably.

"Ah you're awake!" Mephisto chime cheerfully walking over to the couch she rested on,

"Where am I? What happened?" She mumbled wiping the sleep from her eyes, thankful to see that she had human hands.

"My office, I had to keep an eye on you after you passed out" he summarized handing the fox a cup of tea, which she sipped from greedily.

"The sealing..." She whispered lifting a hand to the burning sensation on her shoulder, "right" she muttered depressingly.

"Oh don't look so down my dear~" Mephisto cooed, "you are alive and well",

"for now"she sighed. "Are you sure you do not know when Amaimon will return?"

"Hard to say, I will let you know when I do" Mephisto replied dryly, "now, I'll show you to your room" he instructed, leading the way with a brisk walk.

XxX

"Very small" she mumbled walking into the room containing only a bed and wardrobe, "the room in my shrine was bigger".

"Don't be ungrateful" he tisked, "the better of a familiar you are, the nicer the room, simple isn't it?~" he sung.

"This is fine" she replied coldly, "where are my things?"

"In the drawer, you will find some spare clothes and toiletries too, dinner and breakfast are at seven, lunch at twelve. You will be in your room by nine, understood?"

Ignoring his rules she dug through her items frantically, "where's my pipe?" She demanded, "where did you put it?"

Mephisto taken aback by her sudden rudeness felt a scowl form, "you will get it back when I can trust you with such a weapon".

"No it was my fathers they trusted it with me! Give it back!" She demanded advancing on the demon baring her fangs, tail thrashing wildly under her kimono.

"No" he refused, "I'll give it back as I see fit". He noticed the wild look in her eye, and could see she wanted to attack, but for a familiar to attack it's master carries a heavy punishment, this was something he was thankful she knew. Instead they were merely locking in a glaring battle, Akari's furious stare locked onto Mephisto's strict one. Akari was about to open her mouth to relase a chain of insults when Mephisto beat her to it,

"I don't need to tell you how badly I can hurt you as a familiar yes? No doubt you've hear stories of how badly some are treated" he murmured in a dark threatening tone.

"I have heard of such things" she admitted her glare still unbreaking,

"Then you will do well to obey and remain loyal" he chimed, "such as Behemoth is to Amaimon".

"That loyalty almost got him killed" she frowned bending down to pet the lethargic hobgoblin, "he is still ill".

"It will get over it" Mephisto dismissed, "familiars are replaceable you see~" he sung,

"So is a demon king" she remarked flatly. After several long minutes of the glaring she could see that his expression remained unwavering, at glancing at the hobgoblin her features softened, "please".

"It is quite unique, something I have only seen a handful of times, very rare you know" he begun, "I wouldn't allow such a treasured item to come to any harm, you must see that from my side, I have invited a strange demon into my home, I think you should allow me to be suspicious my dear".

Akari broke her stare and let of a displeased huff at his comment, more so at his random changes in attitude, "I suppose",

"Glad you see my perspective" the demon replied cheerfully, "I can assure you will retrieve it eventually, until then, it is locked away".

"fine" she muttered. Mephisto nodded absently before looking at her small form, a large ill fitting kimono filled with holes and repair stitching hung around her form, although it did well to hide the white bushy tail underneath.

"Tell me, how old is that garment?" he asked,

"around...15 years old maybe" Akari replied, "I inherited it when I was no longer a child".

"I see" Mephisto nodded, "But you know that inherited is in other words, handing down something very old and mostly likely broken in exchange for buying you something new". The fox remained silent, "your shrine was poor wasn't it?"

"We wouldn't get many donations" She admitted, "or visitors",

"I thought so" he concluded, "I'll have new ones made for you, tailored to fit properly".

She looked up from petting the Hobgoblin to see a sincere expression, "thank you",

"no need to thank me, I can't have you going around looking so tatty" he sung, "besides, as my assistant you should be well presented".

Akari frowned thoughtfully, "assistant?"

* * *

Also I didn't write out the court scene because it was taking me forever and was kind of boring tbh


	4. Chapter 4 - fortnight

Another late update :S sorry. Exam season just ended however so I should be updating more, (should).

 **To the guest reviewer who may or may not be reading this,**

 **I agree with some of your points, mainly how it's unrealistic. But, I have to respectfully disagree with some of your others, firstly, yes I am reading the manga, I will read it while writing to adhere to canon as much as possible. Secondly, I acknowledge this is 'unrealistic', but, to be fair, if all Blue Exorcist FF stories, strictly adhered to canon, many wouldn't exist. For this reason, I am going to leave it the way it is, this isn't going to be a long story after all.**

 **Her history will be slightly more clarified in the new couple of chapters, as the nine tails didn't just poof out of the stone. I am also going to clarify that 'Akari' is much older than she seems, it's also worth noting that the Inari shrine where the stone is kept, isn't just tended by Izumo's immediate family, I was under the impression there were many other people there too, (although related).**

 **Much of Akari's past and details are going to be scattered throughout the story, I didn't want to bombared readers with her entire life story straight away, to me when writers do that, it's somewhat boring, I want her charater to have some mystery.**

 **Anyway, hopefully this cleared up my intentions and meanings in this story for not only you but questioning readers too!**

 _thanks to everyone who followed/faved! Thanks for reading please enjoy!_

* * *

Rin had awoken early that day much to his brother's surprise, it was usually him who had to drag his older brother out of bed after all. Today was unlike any other to the half demon, the day he returned to class after the incident. During the two week long break he had no contact from classmates, he didn't need to be a genius to notice they purposely avoided him.

The conversations lately with Yukio had be short and awkward, Rin hoped it was the stress that changed him. As result he spent a majority of his time sitting on the roof of the dormitory, walking around the grounds, or training with Shura, which aside from training wanted little to do with him either.

Which led him to the point he had been silently dreading for weeks, returning to class. He stood silently infront of the large classroom door, a sense of dread building within, 'what will they do?' he wondered, 'will they even look at me? Or will I be a monster to them?'

Rin had expressed his fears to his younger brother on several occasions, he offered very little helpful advice, it following the lines of how he should focus on studying instead of socializing. He didn't understand and never would.

The half demon took a deep breath before delicately opening the door, slipping inside and quietly shutting it again.

"How is- oh" he looked around the class room to see only Izumo glaring at him and Shiemi averting her gaze awkwardly. "Oh you aren't still scared of me?" he asked, a nervous laugh stuttering his voice.

"N-no" she stammered, turning away from him as tears pooled in her eyes, "I just can't.."

"Can't what?" he pursued,

before he could get an answer, Yukio alongside another teacher he had never seen before, flew into the room in a flurry before he grabbing the boy by the sleeve and dragging him from the room.

"From now on Rin will be in another class" he announced before dragging his brother from the room and disappearing with little explanation.

Shiemi watched him leave from the corner of her eye, she didn't feel saddened by his departure as she used to but rather, relieved.

XxX

Akari scanned over the crossword, a majority of it had been filled easily, but there were always a few that only Mephisto could solve, something that annoyed her immensely. It was a pastime he had introduced her to while she spent a majority of the morning and evening, at the Oak desk in the building's foyer. In between taking calls, messages, dealing with small issues he deemed beneath him, and occasionally being summoned to his office to fetch him something, she took solace in the puzzles.

Another new addition to her life sat on the tip of her nose, small rectangular glasses. Mephisto insisted, much to her dismay, that she wore a pair ever since he discovered her poor eyesight. In her opinion, they made her look ridiculous.

Suddenly the elevator door flung open and Mephisto rushed out, a collection of papers in one hand and very sweet coffee in the other. "Any new messages?" He asked hurriedly,

"A couple from parents, and a exorcist named, ahhh Yukio I think? Would like a meeting this afternoon" she listed off quickly before running over to the coat rack to hand the demon a white jacket.

"Ah I see, well I am late for lunch so it will have to be tomorrow" he explained buttoning up the coat,

"The exorcist was very persistent" she replied anxiously, "said it was urgent".

Letting out a sigh Mephisto leaned over the desk, "listen, he's going to drop by eventually, just take a message" he shrugged.

"A message?"

"It's been two weeks Akari, surely you have to know!" He replied frustrated fiddling with the last button on the coat.

"Sorry sorry" she replied, scrambling for a notepad and pen, before showing the items to him.

"Good girl" he praised, "now I really must be of-"

"Wait I need to ask you something!"

Mephisto glanced at his watch before letting out an exasperated sigh, "Hmm what is it?"

"It's just ah well" the fox begun slowly fiddling with her kimono, "it's been some time and well, I haven't learned much-"

"Ridiculous!" He chimed, "you can make coffee, take phone calls, schedule meetings, I'd say you've learnt a lot dear".

"Well yes, but there was mention of you training me, teaching me how to be a proper demon and such" she rambled.

"Was there?"

"Y-yes there was, and I thought maybe the earth king would be back by now" she noted.

Mephisto looked up from his phone to shoot her a stare, "Amaimon? No, after I rescued him he took a vacation, he'll be back soon" he lied.

Akari looked away from his stern glare, his usual carefree attitude replaced with a tenseness, she wanted to glare back but hated the awkward eye contact. It annoyed her that he kept pushing back the date of his arrival, she was beginning to think he was lying, not that she would confront him about it. "Oh uh right but I just thought I would be doing more than fetching you breakfast and such".

The director let out another sigh and glanced at his watch once again, "we will discuss this when I get back, perhaps we can come to an agreement yes?"

"Oh uh thank you!" She chirped,

"Outstanding, so can I go now?" He asked.

Akari glanced at the schedule book, "Yeah, oh wait, what should I do about the exorcist?"

"You've met with exorcists before" he replied shortly, eager to meet his already late appointment.

"But you were there! What if he knows?!"

"I won't be gone long, you'll be fine" he sung, rushing out the door before Akari had the chance to ask more irritating questions.

She watched him climb into the pristine white limo outside, the tinted windows hiding the driver, although she was almost positive it was demon by the way it drove.

XxX

"I can hear you muttering from here" Yukio called over his shoulder as he led Rin down the schools vast network of stairs to the basement.

"Well yeah! Why'd you take me away! I was going to explain everything, and talk to them!" He barked, reluctantly following behind.

The younger brother frowned and turned to shoot a look at his fuming sibling, "Do you think you are the best person to do that? Wouldn't they trust a teacher more at this point?"

"Well...I wouldn't know because you didn't give me a chance!"

Yukio continued to lead his brother down the various staircases, not particularly listening to his ranting and rambling anymore. "We're here" he announced.

"And another thing...wait...here where?" He asked looking around the room, eventually spotting the rows of batting cages. "Are you giving up on me being an exorcist?"

"No, this is your new curriculum, we've reserved this training room for you" he replied "Shura will arrive soon, so please be patient".

"batting cages?" Rin scoffed ignoring Yukio's explanation, he entered a cage and fiddled with the control box, eventually selecting easy mode, "this will be to easy!"

The machine whirred to life, preparing to warm up. "You've been pissed for awhile haven't you?" Rin asked suddenly trying to force conversation,

Yukio shook his head in reply, "I'm...not".

"Nice try but I can tell", suddenly the machine begun to spit out baseballs at high speeds, Rin waved the wooden sword around widely trying to hit the balls, but was mostly unsuccessful. After dodging the projectiles for several long minutes, the machine ran out and Rin sighed in exhaustion, "harder than I thought...But seriously...Yukio..why are you so upset?"

"how long will it take for you to understand that your actions have consequences" he replied suddenly, a tense frustration in his tone. "Just straighten up for once and think about how your actions effect others!"

Rin threw the wooden sword aside, still painting from the earlier round, "well brooding about it isn't gonna solve anything, worrying about it for a day is more than enough, I ain't gonna sit around when I've got fighting to do".

Yukio grunted in reply, annoyed that he practically ignored his comment,

"wow, ya got a relaxed attitude don't yer?" Shura remarked slyly.

"When'd you get here!" Rin barked, suddenly embarrassed by his outburst, "and what are you wearing!?"

Shura tugged at the tiny Kimono that barley covered her body, "I'm comfortable in this" she shrugged, "good for training".

Yukio thought on commented how inappropriate it was, but thought better, he just made sure not to look in her direction too long, lest she get the wrong idea.

"got yer tail hanging out like a monkey" She guffawed eyeing the appendage, "suits an idiot like ya".

"I felt restricted when I was hiding it, it feels more natural like this" he admitted, "plus it looks cool!"

Yukio eyed it with disdain as it waved around lazily, "natural? Hardly..." he scoffed bitterly to himself.

"If another demon heard ya say that" she tisked, "a tail is a weakness, I'd expect it to be hidden if yer fighting someone...now let's get ya set up".

XxX

"Behemoth no!" Akari yapped nudging the demon away from her tail with her foot, the end coated in thick green saliva. He'd been chewing on the fur for awhile, but his teeth found their way to bone. She scowled at the beast who meekly grinned at her, "stop chewing on it! It's gross!"

She wiped it on the end of her kimono, before tucking it back inside the clothing, making a mental not to wash it later. The hobgoblin had a habit of biting and gnawing on the end of it, or anything she owned for that matter, she assumed the fur or scent would be the cause of the behavior.

Despite his tendency to chew anything and everything, something that drove Mephisto insane, she was rather attached to the demon. Ever since she brought him back to the manor she was charged with his care until Amaimon returned, while he showed a gratefulness at being rescued, it didn't prevent his disobedience.

Most days, he was found underneath her desk, in a deep sleep, only awakening at the end of the day or to beg for food. She appreciated his company through the long days and short nights.

XxX

"this is impossible!" Rin groaned looking at the melted mess of wax in front of him, "what about my sword!?"

"yer sword? Stop bein' so impatient, yer being sloppy. Do this every day, fer the rest of the time, focus on schoolwork and yer muscle strength" Shura replied casually.

"But we are running out of time!" Rin barked impatiently "I can't be messing around with candles!",

"Yer gotta get used to the flames control em, then increase yer confidence from there, then you draw yer sword" she replied firmly.

Rin glanced back at the growing pile of melted candles and wax, shame weighed his conscious down, she had a point, he couldn't control his power. Not that she would understand what it was like, no one would. He didn't particularly want to argue any longer, especially with his brother lurking nearby. He chose to focus,

"Understood"

XxX

"Let's see..." Akari flicked through the pages of a book Mephisto had lent her, a collection of all known demons and their known history. "Aha found it!" She shouting in joy jumping from her seat and waking behemoth below.

"Look! I found him!" She chirped shoving the book in his face, to which he glanced at before rolling over and returning to sleep. "My father" she mumbled staring at the pages intently, a large inked image of a nine tailed fox covering a page. "Hmmm... Unknown age, sealed in the life taking stone...attempted release half a century ago...what?" Reading through the small amount of information, most of which she already knew. An attempt to break the life taking stone occurred, however while it didn't break completely, it allowed some of the nine tails power to escape before possessing the man who attempted to break it.

"The fragment as it's referred to, was allegedly encountered by a member of the Kamiki bloodline, not much else is known except for the allegations there may be offspring from the pair. However, this cannot be proven since the source was untrustworthy..." Akari reached the end of the page and trailed off before flicking to the next one only to find it had been torn out. "Damn" She cursed snapping the book shut. Every time it seemed she came close to finding out her origins, the final piece was missing.

Moko knew nothing either, she arrived to her while she was a young woman, only knowing what she was nothing more. Akari watched her age much faster than she did, watching her die as an old woman while she remained young. Moko hypothesized that one day Akari would stop ageing altogether.

On multiple occasions she tried to coax information from the foxes at the shrine, since they always taunted her with it, claiming they knew everything she didn't. It was only before she left, Akio admitted they knew little at all, and only did it to tease her.

She hadn't learnt much new information except for the fact her father hasn't fully left the life taking stone since his capture.

Looking down at the crimson leather bound cover she traced the occult symbols with a nail, thoughts of home filled her head, she missed it terribly. Every day she ached to return. But to return without completing her mission would label her as a disgrace.

"Excuse me" someone tapped on the desk roughly,

Snapping out of her thoughts Akari snapped her head up to look at the boy. She quickly noticed the instructors pin, "ah you must be Yukio" she smiled nervously standing up shakily. His eyes were cold and his jaw tense, everything about his body language suggested rigid frustration. He had previously left Rin's training early, the results of his first class weren't promising and only made the exorcist more nervous.

"And you are the receptionist I talked to earlier" he noted, "miss?"

"Uh haruka" she replied, repeating the alias name Mephisto had given her, Akari haruka".

"I see, nice to meet you, is Sir Pheles around?"

Akari noted the sharpness in his tone, an anger not directed at her however. "Hmm no sorry, he is out for the day, I was instructed to take the meeting" she replied collecting a notepad and pen. "Follow me"

XxX

"Sit down" the fox instructed with unintentional rudeness, "I can trust this won't take too long?"

"As Sir Phele's personal assistant I'm sure you are very busy" he replied dryly.

"Uh well yes, it isn't like he will teach me anything else" she muttered, unintentional bitterness in her tone,

The exorcist raised an eyebrow, "meaning?"

Akari snapped her mouth shut, "ah nothing just that I am very busy" she laughed nervously.

"As I said" he replied, "now, I don't mean to be rude, but this information I can only trust with Sir Pheles".

"I can assure you, that this information can be shared with me. He has personally entrusted me with this meeting" she replied pushing up her glasses.

"I haven't see you around before" he commented suddenly, "are you new here?"

Akari scrambled through her memories for the backstory Mephisto had entrusted her with, "yes, I have been here for little over a couple of weeks".

"I see, and what rank are you?" He asked, "I don't see any pins".

She cleared her throat roughly, "ah yes well I am not an exorcist",

Yukio leant back in his chair, staring at her through a light frown, "that is quite unusual isn't it?"

"No, I would not say that, I mostly deal with the normal school affairs, the cram school, exorcists and such he has primary control over" she replied clearly, keeping the waver from her voice.

He seemed satisfied with her answer, "you know about the cram school then?"

"As I said, he trusts me with such sensitive information" she smiled slyly, "now about that message".

XxX

Akari held the robe around her body tightly, her tail swaying in irritation, she had just fallen asleep when Mephisto summoned the fox from her bed to discuss the days events. It was late at night, too late. The pair where in the dining hall, Behemoth lent against her leg tiredly, while she struggled to flatten messy white hair.

Mephisto sat crossed legged in the head dining chair, although it's ridiculous amount of ornamentation, made it resemble more of a throne. Several empty ramen cups littered the desk and he was currently feeding a stream of noodles into his mouth. He was in his pajamas, hideously colored silk garments with flowers covering the surface.

Seeing Akari eyeing the cup he offered her some, "what some? This brand is my favorite".

"No thank you...I know it's your favorite, you send me to the lunch hall twice a day to fetch it."

"For good reason" he noted, "how was the meeting?"

"He was very reluctant at first, he kept asking me questions-"

Mephisto frowned thoughtfully, "Like what?"

"My qualifications, where I came from, things such as that" she listed, "he was suspicious I believe".

"I see... continue" he prompted,

"Well... he didn't tell me much, I assume he's still withholding information, he asked me to schedule a meeting for the two of you privately".

The demon let out a long sigh and pushed the ramen aside, "There is no getting out of it then",

"No, you were right about the persistence" she noted. Her eyes ached for sleep and she wondered how he still had so much energy, 'most likely the sugar' she mused.

"What did he say?"

Reading off her notes she cleared her throat, "his brother Rin, has not been going so well with his training, the exorcist-"

"Yukio" he corrected, "you'll be seeing more of him, it is rude not to use his name".

With a sigh she continued, "Yukio, is concerned time is running out, he said that you would know what that means."

"Hmm, well this isn't good" he replied lowly, before looking over to see the fox's disinterested face. "Don't... you want to know what is going on?"

"No"

"No? Why not?" Mephisto raised a brow, genuinely surprised she had no interest, "are you that tired?" he asked before noticing the flicking of her white tail, "or annoyed?"

"I am tired yes" she admitted, "but it is not my business unless you make it, I have no interest in helping exorcists".

"I see..." the demon muttered, annoyed by her answer he changed the subject, "you wanted to discuss something earlier?"

Akari was thankful he finally took her request seriously, although too tired to be excited she explained her goal, "I was wondering if I could do other things, learn new skills and such..."

"Like my laundry?" he quipped, a sly smile on his face.

The fox was thankful that he din't act so goofy around her as he did others, it was an act she found embarrassing to witness, although he did occasionally bring it behind closed doors. "No, like visit different places, maybe look around, get my pipe back" she replied flatly,

"You, a demon, want to look around a school full of exorcists?"

"it's just, being an assistant is... boring, it is the same activities everyday...".

"I knew this day would come" he sighed leaning in his chair, "you've been relatively obedient, I will grant you this freedom"

"Really?" she replied, taken aback by his agreement.

"On... a couple of conditions" he grinned slyly, "firstly, your duties as a assistant come first. Second, you may only roam after the students 9pm curfew, thirdly, you are only permitted to do so in that absolutely adorable fox form of yours" he chirped.

She resisted an eye roll, the obsession with her fox form was concerning. "Okay... I accept these conditions, but as I told you.. I can't control when I change".

"Well until I find the time to fix that I had this specially made just for you~" he replied cheerfully before digging through his pocket, eventually pulling out a chain of dark stone beads and placing in on the table.

Akari walked over and picked up the item turning it over in her hands to see intricate symbols carved into the stone, 'he's been planning this for awhile' she noted. "How does it work?"

"Once activated, and worn you will be in this form, when off you will be in the other" he explained, "make sense?"

"I suppose, how do I activate it?" She examined the item, easy to pull on and off overhead, 'he thought this through too well'.

Mephisto grinned wickedly, "Put it on".

XxX

Akari fiddled with the item around her neck, thinking of last nights events. It worked exactly as planned, and the demon stressed that they must be kept hidden at all times, which was easily achieved with her kimono.

She was drumming her clawed fingers on the desk boredly, lazily flicking through the notebook below. Behemoth took his place at her feet as always, she gazed down at the beast affectionately, 'if only my familiar was this way' she thought grimly.

Suddenly the door was flung open and a very distressed exorcist rushed inside, "I need to see sir Pheles, now" he demanded.

Looking up from her book she saw Yukio staring at her with frustrated glare, "he is out" she replied. "I can take a message-"

"No!" The exorcist snapped, "I've been turned away enough"

The fox let out a long sigh before picking up the phones receiver, tapping in several numbers before allowing it to ring. After several rings Mephisto finally picked up,

"What is it Akari? I told you I wasn't to be disturbed" he reminded her, annoyance in his tone.

Akari scowled before glancing to the exorcist, "Yukio demands a meeting" she explained flatly.

"Hold on a minute" he sighed putting the line on hold,

Yukio glared at the girl with frustration, "You said he was busy".

Akari shrugged in reply, "for everyone else yes".

"Surely he would allow me to see him-"

"Why?" Akari asked flatly, "what is it that makes you exempt?"

Yukio opened his mouth to answer but quickly snapped in shut, frustration evident in his expression. "You are just his assistant, nothing more" he replied coldly.

Akari brushed off his comment, "for now" she muttured.

"Are you two playing nice?~" Mephisto sung over the line, obviously in a better mood.

"We were talking not playing" Akari replied quickly,

"Right right, forgot how literal you were" he muttured. "Anyway~I have a twenty minute slot before dinner, he can see me then".

"He has a twenty-"

"I heard" Yukio snapped,

Ignoring his attitude she wrote the details on a slip of paper, "five thirty, do not be late".

He snatched it from her clawed hand before stomping out the door, "I could hear his teeth grinding from here" Mephisto chirped walking down the staircase,

" I am gathering the impression he doesn't like me" Akari muttured,

"Does that bother you?" He replied slyly.

"No, not particularly" she replied casually much to Mephisto's disappointment, "why should I?"

"He is most likely jelous you know~"

"Of what? He can fetch your dinner if he likes"

Mephisto scowled as he lent over the desk, "no, not of that. I am surprised how rude you are being"

"am I?" she asked flatly, "I did not notice", it was times like this she was increasingly annoyed, when people were upset at her for reasons she didn't know.

The demon gestured to the door, he wasn't about to lecture her, she never learnt anyway, "You are dismissed".

With little more than a nod she gathered her things before calling Behemoth, "you know where to find me" she called, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Feel free to leave a positive/constructive comment! Thanks for reading!


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